Even on “hard” difficulty, the combat was excruciatingly easy once I mastered it. What little depth this presented with was all but immediately dissolved once I had crafted the best kind of oculi (princess stones) six or seven hours into the game.Įvery now and again, small glimmers of potential radiate through Child of Light’s simplistic gameplay, but it’s never enough to make a difference. These oculi can either be found by crafting three oculi of the previous quality into one of a higher quality, or by finding them around the world in chests or after battles. There are four quality ranks of oculi: rough, tumbled, faceted, and brilliant. Instead, Aurora finds oculi, gems that increase everything from hit points to fire damage to experience gained after battles. It’s unfortunate that this is the most interesting thing that Child of Light does to differentiate itself from every other turn-based RPG, but it is an interesting mechanic nonetheless, and offers more than a few strategic options, especially in boss fights.
The right stick controls Igniculus, which the player can use to slow enemies down, gather healing plants from the bottom left or right of the screen, or hover over characters to heal them and restore MP.
If a character hits an enemy while that enemy is in the “cast” portion of the meter, they’re interrupted and move backwards to around 2/3 down the gauge. Each action takes a different length of time (from “instant” to “very long”), with something like defense occurring instantaneously, whereas Aurora’s slash takes “average” time. They then advance along a much shorter portion of the meter, until they eventually reach the end, at which point the action is executed. Everything takes place on a time gauge - characters advance along this meter until they hit a certain point, at which time they choose their action for that turn. Instead of random encounters, running into an enemy in the world triggers a battle reminiscent of Grandia, in which the player takes turns controlling 2 party members against a group of up to 3 enemies. It’s a true testament to the visual style that it not only enhances enjoyment of the game, but informs the narrative.Ĭhild of Light is a side-scrolling turn-based RPG. Everything is bleak, sad, and similarly colored without ever feeling dirty of nightmarish. This is where Child of Light draws its strength: its ability to portray a fairy tale narrative is enhanced by the aesthetics in a way that games rarely achieve. It’s a masterwork in visual design, and I could stare at it for hours. Everything is animated beautifully, and the characters feel alive while still maintaining that fairy tale storybook motif. The story does something of a U-turn in the last three or so hours, but it’s not enough to forgive the previous ten.Ĭhild of Light is, visually, a thing of beauty: from twisted forests to vine-covered ruins to idyllic countryside villages, its watercolor style is genuinely breathtaking. It’s also due to its inability to enrapture. After the first couple of hours, it became a grating irritation. This is due in part to its incessant rhyme scheme: everything rhymes in Child of Light, always. One could be completely forgiven for not being invested in Child of Light’s story - after the first three or four hours, I found myself skipping most of the unimportant dialogue. I found no real indication of underlying motive or purpose other than “she’s evil and that’s what evil people do.” This is largely okay in Child of Light, because it’s more of a storybook than some deep, far-reaching epic. The Queen of Darkness is oppressing the peoples of Lemuria, for no other reason than Of Course She Is. Beyond this, the story is largely unimportant. Instead of dreaming, or awakening into some sort of afterlife, Aurora is sucked into the land of Lemuria, a world of magical Dwarves, taking mice, and depressed minstrels (who can’t rhyme). One night, she lies down in her bed and falls asleep, never to awaken. Aurora - the princess of late-19th-century Austria - is loved by all. I’m an adoring fan of both of these things: Rayman Legends is the only platformer I’ve even come close to finishing in the last half-decade, and Lost Odyssey is a Japanese RPG that also happens to be one of my favorite games of the last console generation.Ĭhild of Light opens with grief. It combines the UbiArt engine (employed in the development of Rayman Origins and Rayman Legends) with a turn-based combat system that would feel at home in most Japanese RPGs of old. Child of Light feels like the Indie lovechild of Rayman and Grandia.